State v. Nelson
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, and three counts of forgery. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions on direct appeal but reversed and remanded his hard fifty prison term for the first-degree murder conviction because the district court applied an incorrect legal standard when imposing it. On remand, the district court found three aggravating factors were established by a preponderance of the evidence and re-imposed a hard fifty sentence, holding that any one of the aggravating factors outweighed the court's finding in mitigation that the victim physically abused Defendant as a child. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the sentencing court did not abuse its discretion by imposing the hard fifty sentence under these facts.
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